Bodybuilding fans

[HowieW]

It was pretty obvious from scanning the crowd that most of those in audiance fit into one of the following categories:
1. Serious bodybuilders    2. Those that used to compete 3. Friends and family of those in the show.

So what's the problem with that? NOTHING, unless we all want the sport to grow!

Look at sports like baseball, football, soccer, etc. They all have a huge number of FANS, that were NEVER really serious or even seriously played the sport they are a fan of. Bodybuilding is a great show in my opinion.
I think it has the potential for enormous growth if and only if the shows get marketed correctly.
I now believe that proper MARKETING and promo is the key to growth in our sport.
Issues related to DRUGS or the freaks vs asthetic-symmetrical type and way down the line in importance in getting regular folks to come out. In fact a GREAT show has plenty of BOTH kinds of bodies .
?     Howard

[SS]

people outside of family go to those shows

[ThaRealist]

I think it is very difficult for someone in the general public to fully understand bodybuilding and how it is judged...Speaking of judges; they don't help with this fact either by obviously making questionable decisions in many IFBB competitions...

[Always Sore]

It was pretty obvious from scanning the crowd that most of those in audience fit into one of the following categories:
1. Serious bodybuilder's   2. Those that used to compete 3. Friends and family of those in the show.

So what's the problem with that? NOTHING, unless we all want the sport to grow!

Look at sports like baseball, football, soccer, etc. They all have a huge number of FANS, that were NEVER really serious or even seriously played the sport they are a fan of. Bodybuilding is a great show in my opinion.
I think it has the potential for enormous growth if and only if the shows get marketed correctly.
I now believe that proper MARKETING and promo is the key to growth in our sport.
Issues related to DRUGS or the freaks vs  type and way down the line in importance in getting regular folks to come out. In fact a GREAT show has plenty of BOTH kinds of bodies .
?     Howard

Its because they market the event instead of the people. Think of bodybuilding like professional wrestling, If they spent more time making the people the commodity and getting to know them outside of the magazines there might be more intrest. I am not saying to make stupid characters out of people al la Vince's attempt at bodybuilding, I say shine a bigger light on the people. Start a website that shows videos of the field getting ready for a contest and photos of each week. Have them work out together and get in normal revelries and fights as they get ready. Take the mistique out of what they do. put people in direct competition with others in weight classes and show it as more of a competition as opposed to a beauty contest. Get people excited to support there guy (shirts/DVD's/ect) like in nascar.  Bring back other older bodybuilders as judges, show a legacy of the sport. Make it more about the compition and less about a tiny subset of the culture.

[HowieW]

I think it is very difficult for someone in the general public to fully understand bodybuilding and how it is judged...Speaking of judges; they don't help with this fact either by obviously making questionable decisions in many IFBB competitions...

While your reply hits on some of the "conventional wisdom" and reasons why the sport fails to draw, I now disagree.
EVERY town now has gym, EVERY network is loaded with ads on diet and fat burning products, ab machines, etc.
People are VERY intersted in looking better and having a more "in shape" hardbody than ever before.
The figure and fitness girls help in this , BUT the freaks show another kind of physique that is impressive and offers a unique wow/freak factor. As serious bodybuilder types we often get caught up in the reults and miss the cool nature of the actual show.     Howie

[HowieW]

Its because they market the event instead of the people. Think of bodybuilding like professional wrestling, If they spent more time making the people the commodity and getting to know them outside of the magazines there might be more intrest. I am not saying to make stupid characters out of people al la Vince's attempt at bodybuilding, I say shine a bigger light on the people. Start a website that shows videos of the field getting ready for a contest and photos of each week. Have them work out together and get in normal revelries and fights as they get ready. Take the mistique out of what they do. put people in direct competition with others in weight classes and show it as more of a competition as opposed to a beauty contest. Get people excited to support there guy (shirts/DVD's/ect) like in nascar.  Bring back other older bodybuilders as judges, show a legacy of the sport. Make it more about the compition and less about a tiny subset of the culture.

:)OUTSTANDING idea here, kinda like cheering for your fav team in other pro sports. Having the best men/woman known before an event would add a lot of hype of interest for sure.Think of the awesome hype over the Jay vs Ronnie deal leading up to the last Olympia. Boxing does this well and we should to.I am done being NEGATIVE about the sport I love best...BODYBUILDING.

[Always Sore]

:)OUTSTANDING idea here, kinda like cheering for your fav team in other pro sports. Having the best men/woman known before an event would add a lot of hype of interest for sure.Think of the awesome hype over the Jay vs Ronnie deal leading up to the last Olympia. Boxing does this well and we should to.I am done being NEGATIVE about the sport I love best...BODYBUILDING.

Thanks, I really think one of the major drawbacks is people always associate bodybuild with stupid meatheads. If you could get to know the guys and get behind and hell even sponser them think how much more excitment you could cause. If you had a couple of top bodybuilders that you could see week to week and then see them talk about things there doing every couple of weeks and throw in some lifestyle and background you could start to carve out a person to root for. Think about the if you had someone you liked and you were planning to go to a event and the bodybuilder had a special shirt made that you could wear in support (think nfl teams) at the event how much more people could be into it. You could make it like a prize fight. You can see how UFC has done just that. They took a sport everybody thought was just a glorfied street fight and now everybody rallies behind there guy.